Victoria Kolakowski

Victoria Kolakowski, a candidate for Alameda County Superior Court judge in California, is holding a slight lead over opponent John Creighton and will become the first transgender judge in the nation if she wins.

The 49-year-old has been a lawyer since 1989 and has dealt with copyright, business and patent cases. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Kolakowski had sex reassignment surgery in 1991. When the state Supreme Court declared same-sex marriages legal there in 2008, she married her partner, a woman, the Chronicle reported.

On her website, Kolakowski said she wants "to be clear that I am not asking voters to elect me simply because I am transgender."

However, she said that her being transgender would help the community to "see people like me as respectable professionals and even colleagues, and not as 'freaks.'

"Therefore I am passionate about blazing this trail for my community," she wrote. "I have been very fortunate to have a successful career as a public servant, and I feel an obligation to serve my community as a role model as well."

Keith Richards

The Rolling Stones legend releases a memoir called "Life" onÂ October 26. This weekend, both The Times of London and Rolling Stone magazine released exclusive excerpts and headlines have leaked. (Note: TheÂ online excerpts are available only via subscription.)

The Rolling StoneÂ collection includes a photo essay heavy on sex, drugs and rockÂ 'n' roll. The best kind of partying, Richards writes, is the kind you canâ€™t remember. â€śYou get these brief vignettes of what you did [while intoxicated]," Richards writes. â€śOh, you donâ€™t remember shooting the gun? Pull up the carpet, look at those holes, man.â€ť

ABC News went through The Times excerpts to uncover that Richards and Mick Jagger havenâ€™t been friends for years. Richards even refers to Jagger as â€śHer Majesty.â€ť â€śSometimes I think: 'I miss my friend.â€™ â€ťÂ Richards admits in an excerpt. â€ťI wonder: 'where did he go?' "

The Daily Record of ScotlandÂ reports that the original rift between Jagger and Richards goes back to 1968 when the two swapped girlfriends Marianne Faithfull and model Anita Pallenberg, respectively. Pallenberg is the mother of three of Richardsâ€™ children. Richards admits that he acted out of retaliation and that his tryst with Faithfull happened only once, according to the report in the Daily Record. "Marianne and I still have this joke,â€ť he recalls. â€śShe sends me messages: 'I still can't find your socks.' "

Tommie Smith

The Olympic athlete known for symbolizing Black Power on the podium at the 1968 games in Mexico City, Mexico, has placed his gold medal up for auction. Tommie Smith, now a 66-year-old resident of Georgia, has hired M.I.T. Memorabilia to handle the auction, which will close November 4, according to KTLA-Los Angeles. The asking price is $250,000.

Smith, a former San Jose State University sprinter, won the gold for the 200 meters in Mexico City. Teammate John Carlos also placed. During the U.S. national anthem, the two raised black-gloved fists and bowed their heads. Though they were kicked out of the Olympic Village at the time, they eventually earned international acclaim.

Harry Whittington

The trial lawyer whom Dick Cheney shot on a quail-hunting trip in Texas sat down with the Washington Post to talk about the incident. Harry Whittington, 82, has fully recovered from the accident of almost five years ago, he said. More than 200 pellets struck all across his body, just missing vital organs and leading to many invasive surgeries.

For months afterward, however, pieces would still work their way out of his body, he said. About 30 pellets remain, including one near his heart and one in his voice box, causing his voice to â€śwarble.â€ť

Whittington was gracious in recalling Cheneyâ€™s involvement, the Post reported. It was he who initially apologized from the hospital, indicating that the accident had inconvenienced the vice president. He still feels responsible for traumatizing Cheney, he said.

At the same time, the accident caused problems for Cheney because it was not made public until the ranch ownerâ€™s daughter confirmed it the next day. A media frenzy ensued, with reporters trying to sneak into the hospital to talk to Whittington and others interrogating the White House for the PR gaffe. FULL POST

Ron Turcotte

The Hall of Fame race horse jockey best known for winning the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973 is enjoying a resurgence with the release of the Disney film â€śSecretariat.â€ť He returned to Lexington, Kentucky, October 1 for a special screening of the film, reported the Telegraph-Journal, a Canadian newspaper.

Paralyzed in 1978 during a race at Belmont Park, Turcotte was pushed through the crowd of adoring fans in his wheelchair by an old friend named Charlie Davis. Davis is considered an unsung hero as he was the exercise rider of Secretariat, the paper said.

While Secretariatâ€™s life and story are a marvel, Turcotteâ€™s is equally fantastic. He was raised in New Brunwick in Canada, one of 12 children of a lumberjack. In his youth, he struggled as a stable hand, until he found his path as a jockey in Toronto.

While four of his brothers also became jockeys, Turcotte was exceptional. His career spanned 17 years with more than 3000 wins.

Turcotte is like the Muhammad Ali of his sport, the Telegraph-Journal said. Yet the rider always turns the focus back to Secretariat. â€śHe was so easy to ride and wasnâ€™t afraid of nothing,â€ť he told the paper.

Sgt. 1st Class Lance Vogeler

On the ninth anniversary of the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, the remains of the 29-year-old Army Ranger received a heroâ€™s welcome Thursday at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia. Vogeler was killed on Friday during a firefight in Afghanistanâ€™s Helmand province, officialsÂ toldÂ the Washington Post.

Vogeler was a career soldier who once turned down an opportunity to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, choosing to stay with his men, the Post reported. When he was killed, he wasÂ serving his 12th tour of duty.Â TheÂ service in Afghanistan was his eighth tour there. He had also served four tours in Iraq.

In a statement, Col. Michael E. Kurilla, the commander of Vogeler's regiment, called him "the quintessential Ranger" and "a hero to our Nation, the Army and his family."

Vogeler was known for the respect he received from other soldiers, his Christian faith, and his devotion to family, his friends and colleaguesÂ said.Â His parents, Tim and Donna Vogeler, are deaf. Vogeler and his brother Chris, 27, served their parents as interpreters. Vogeler obtained a certificate to perform marriage ceremonies for fellow soldiers, after many of his men asked that he officiate at their weddings, his parentsâ€™ pastor told the Post.

He was a native of Frederick, Maryland, and the married father of two young children. His widow, Melissa, is pregnant.

"He died doing what he felt called to do," his parentsâ€™ pastor, the Rev. Peter C. Myers, told the Post. "Lance did not love war. But he had a job to do, and he took it extremely seriously."

Post-baseball, Dykstra quickly developed himself into a financial "guru," the Times reported. He launched a magazine and formed a community of professional athletes focused on growing their wealth. He even wrote a column for Jim Cramer on thestreet.com. He threw phenomenal parties attended by wealthy athletes as well as Donald Trump.

In recent years, however, Dykstra has become what can only be described as a case study in "irrational exuberance." The Times discussed in detail the lavish spending habits, the ex-wives and poor stock choices. Dykstra was hit hard by the real estate bubble as well. An extravagant Southern California estate, purchased from Wayne Gretzky for approximately $17 million went into foreclosure this year.

Still, Dykstra seemed optimistic.

â€śIf you mess with Nails,â€ť he told The Times, using his nickname, â€śyouâ€™re gonna get the Hammer.â€ť Financial author Randall Lane summed it up this way in The Times: "He is a perfect metaphor for what happened to many people, but he did it on a scale that was monumental."

Bernhard Kohl

Bernhard Kohl, the Austrian cyclist stripped of his third-place finish in the 2008 Tour de France, told attendees at the United States Anti-Doping Agency's science conference Monday that under current conditions, no one can win the Tour de France without using performance-enhancing drugs.

"People know in cycling that it's not possible to win the Tour de France without it," Kohl told AOL's sports website FanHouse after the speech. "It's three weeks, 3,000 km and you climb [the equivalent of] Mount Everest four times. That's just not possible."

Kohl confessed to doping many times, yet passed all but one test, which resulted in a two-year-ban from the sport. He said he and other unnamed riders rely on doping to remain competitive. He would not comment on the investigation of current Tour champion Alberto Contador or other riders.

While Kohl is eligible to return, he says his career is over. "I can never come back," he said. "It's not possible if you say the truth."

Louise Brown

When Louise Brown got married in 2004, a scientist named Dr. Robert Edwards attended the wedding. He was also one of two men present when Brown was conceived in 1977.
Â
Due to the work of Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe, Brown was scientifically conceived in a laboratory - then implanted as an embryo in her mother's womb. She became the worldâ€™s first test-tube baby when she was born on July 25, 1978.

On Monday, Edwards, now 85, received the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Steptoe passed away in 1988. He would have shared part of the $1.5 million prize as well if he were still alive, reports say.Â

Williams Ayers

During the Vietnam War era, William Ayers co-founded a group responsible for bombing U.S. government buildings. By 1987, he was an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he went on to work with a young politician named Barack Obama on public school reform.

Thursday night, the Chicago Tribune reported, Ayers was denied emeritus status by the UIC board of directors, an honorific title that is rarely denied to tenured professors. Leading the boardâ€™s unanimous decision was Christopher Kennedy, the UIC board chairman and the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy.

In 1974, Ayers co-authored "Prairie Fire," a book he dedicated to numerous "political prisoners," including RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan. Last week, in an emotional statement before the board, Kennedy said he could not give the title to "a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father."

Dan Savage

The Seattle-based author and â€śSavage Loveâ€ť advice columnist has launched a YouTube channel that allows gays, lesbians and their straight allies to post messages of encouragement to young teens and tweens questioning or struggling with their sexuality. The site, launched September 15, features at least 200 videos and is part of an effort to deter gay youths from committing suicide. There have been about 500,000 views of the channel so far, with more than 6,000 people subscribing to it.

Savage, considered one of few gay relationship columnists in the country, posted his own video September 21. In it, he and a friend named Terry share their own stories of growing up gay. They talk about religious conflicts with family members, keeping secrets and facing unspeakable episodes of harassment in high school. â€śWhat I want people to take away from this is that it gets better,â€ť Savage urged his viewers, â€śBut you have to tough this period of your life out, and you have to live your life so that youâ€™re around for it to get amazing â€” and it can.â€ť

Mike Rowe

Two years ago, the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" host launched a private effort to end what he called America's "war on work." He set up a website called MikeRoweWorks, and video-blogged about the way vocational schools were seeing their number of applicants decline, and how trade labor was being marginalized. Additionally, he talked about how there weren't enough welders, pavers, pipefitters and other skilled workers to keep America's bridges and roads from "literally falling apart."

Rowe's mission could reach critical mass Wednesday when he arrives on Capitol Hill with members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. They'll lobby Congress to pass a bill requiring that the federal stimulus funds directed toward transportation actually be spent.

Originally, a spokesman for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers told CNN that only three percent of the stimulus funds allocated to transportation infrastructure had actually been spent. That figure is incorrect. Of the $26 billion provided in stimulus spending to repair roads and bridges, not three percent, but 50 percent, has been spent, according to government figures.

It is because of this stimulus funding that the transportation construction industry is not in complete shambles, says Jeff Solsby of the American Road and Transportation Association. â€śThe bottom line is the stimulus has been a lifeline for our industry, as without it many of our jobs would be goneâ€ť Solsby says.

Amir Abo-Shaeer

Physics teacher Amir Abo-Shaeer, 38, is one of 23 people who will receive a highly coveted $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship today. Abo-Shaeer created the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy in 2002 to offer public high school students near Santa Barbara, California, a four-year applied-science curriculum focusing on math, physics and engineering. The program has a laboratory and requires students to compete in a national robotics competition. The latest track is for students to launch entrepreneurial pursuits, Abo-Shaeer said.

Abo-Shaeer pursued the project after working with youths as a graduate student while attending nearby U.C. Santa Barbara. He began by recruiting students - girls in particular - at the junior high school level. MacArthur officials call the program a "school within a school." Abo-Shaeer sees it as a personal success. "This has also been exciting for me because to the contrary of what you always hear on the news - 'students don't want to do science, students don't want to do math' - we have had a line of people hanging out the door to get into the program."

Valerie Plame Wilson

The former covert CIA agent and her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, lost their place in Washington's Republican circles after late columnist Robert Novak outed her as a covert CIA operative. A New York Times profile shows how the two have rebuilt their lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She works as a consultant against nuclear proliferation; he runs the Africa division of a global construction company. Their 10-year-old twins go to public school. A biopic called "Fair Game" about the Wilsons' Bush administration travails, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, opens next month.

Hossein Derakhshan

The Iranian blogger accused of working with "hostile" governments, propaganda against the Islamic establishment, propaganda in favor of anti-revolutionary groups, and insulting religious sanctities says he has been convicted, his mother says in London's newspaper the Daily Telegraph.

The prosecutor in Iran is seeking the death penalty.

Derakhshan, known as the "blogfather," is credited with creating a blog platform for Persian characters. While living in Canada and Britain, he became known as a defender of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He also has traveled to Israel on a one-man peace mission.

The Telegraph reported that he was arrested within weeks of his voluntary return to Iran in 2008.

Jay-Z

The record-breaking rap artist recently traveled with Forbes magazine to a summit with Warren Buffet, the No. 2 man on Forbesâ€™ list of billionaires. The goal, according to the magazine, was to capture their very different perspectives on success and wealth and to talk about the social obligations that come with each.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is listed as one of the magazineâ€™s â€śbillionaires in the making.â€ť He grew up in the projects of Brooklyn, New York, and holds the record for having the most No. 1 albums sold by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 chart. He is an entrepreneur and is part owner of the New Jersey nets.

In 2002, Jay-Z and his mother founded the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund to help teens pay for college.

Jim Gorant

With Michael Vick starting for the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, it appears the controversial quarterbackâ€™s NFL career has been rehabilitated. Another tale of rehabilitation appears in a book out this week about the 51 pit bulls recovered from Vickâ€™s Bad Newz Kennels.

Usually animals from illegal dogfighting operations are euthanized, according to Stephen Zawistowski, a psychologist and ASPCA animal behavior specialist who worked on the Vick case. In an interview this week with NPR, he said the $1 million Vick paid in restitution gave the ASPCA a unique opportunity to rehabilitate most of the dogs. In the end, only one was euthanized, while the rest were placed in dog sanctuaries or have been adopted.

Gorant argues that the Vick case may help rehabilitate the reputation of pit bulls as well. "As odd as it may seem, Michael Vick may be the best thing that ever happened to the pit bull,â€ť he told NPR. â€śHe gave the forum to discuss this and make it possible to get the message out there that these dogs are not what they've been made out to be in the headlines, that they really are just sort of dogs."

Kim Jong Un

North Koreaâ€™s Central News Agency has announced that the largest gathering of the country's main political party will take place September 28. The rare gathering is leading intelligence analysts to believe that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may name his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as his heir apparent â€” if not the next leader of North Korea altogether.

While the analysts were expecting such an announcement, what they donâ€™t know is even more telling. Very little is known about Kim Jong Un, and few even know what he looks like.

In a report this month on National Public Radio, North Korea analyst Ken Gause gave an overview of the man known across the Demilitarized Zone as the â€śBrilliant Comrade.â€ť Gause said that some details were provided by a book written under a pseudonym by â€” of all people â€” Kim Jong Ilâ€™s sushi chef. The book's title is â€śI was Kim Jong Ilâ€™s Cook.â€ť Here are some details:

* Kim Jong Un is the son of a dancer who is either the â€śDear Leaderâ€™sâ€ť third wife or his consort.
* He is approximately 27 or 28 years of age.
* He may have been educated at an English-speaking Swiss boarding school.
* Classmates say he likes skiing, Jean-Claude Van Damme films and Michael Jordan.
* He graduated from a North Korean military academy named for his grandfather.
* He became the Dear Leaderâ€™s No. 1 choice when his older brother, Kim Jong Nam, tried to sneak a trip to Tokyo Disneyland using a forged passport.

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